Vijay Mallya, Q&A

7 September 2012

Q:The team delivered a big result in Spa with fourth place for Nico – what was your verdict on that performance?

Vijay Mallya:I think it was probably our most competitive showing of the year in terms of race pace. Nico ended the race just a couple of seconds behind Raikkonen and came very close to the podium. In terms of strategy, the pit wall called things perfectly and Nico did the rest by racing hard and making no mistakes.

Q:Paul was also in the top ten, bringing the team 13 points and moving the team ahead of Williams…

Vijay Mallya:Spa was the fourth race this year when we've had two cars finish in the points. I've been saying this is what we need to do if we want to catch Sauber and recapture our sixth place finish in the championship. If Paul had not suffered with the KERS issue, I'm convinced we would have come away from Spa with even more points.

Q:How tough is the fight in the midfield at the moment?

Vijay Mallya:I remember this time last year saying that it was the most competitive season ever in the midfield – but this year has surpassed even that. Sauber and Williams have been on the podium and will continue to be strong in the remaining races. But, at the same time, I believe we have the car and the team to beat them. I also remember last year we performed better in the second half of the season so I'm optimistic for the remaining races.

Q:Can the team carry the momentum into the Monza weekend?

Vijay Mallya:We need to. The car was working well in Spa and looked competitive on the straights so I'm hopeful we can carry this over to Monza where we run with even less downforce.